Decoupling Radio Resource Management from an Access Gateway

1. A radio resource manager, comprising: one or more computer processors, wherein the radio resource manager is configured to: receive a control message from a base transceiver station associated an access terminal; receive a request message determine radio control characteristics; and send a response message that includes the radio control characteristics such that a radio link is established and such that an access gateway, which is not collocated with the radio resource manager, receives data in a bearer path from the base transceiver station, wherein the radio resource manager is decoupled from the bearer path.

2. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of resource management functions are provided to the access gateway or the base transceiver station.

3. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein media flows from the access terminal to the access gateway over the bearer path.

4. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein the data does not include radio-specific characteristics.

5. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein the radio resource manager is further configured to provide control for radio transmission characteristics.

6. The radio resource manager of claim 5 , wherein the radio transmission characteristics are a selected one of a group of characteristics, the group consisting of: a) transmit power; b) channel allocation; c) handover criteria; d) modulation scheme; e) error coding scheme; f) radio link supervision; g) radio channel configuration management; h) radio channel allocation; i) channel power control; j) channel encoding/decoding; k) interleaving; and l) priority access for radio resources.

7. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein the bearer path is decoupled from a control path.

8. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein the radio resource manager facilitates a plurality of different access technologies being used in a particular network.

9. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein control information is handled by the radio resource manager through a path from the base transceiver station to the radio resource manager.

10. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein communications from the base transceiver station to the radio resource manager are tunneled through the access gateway.

11. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein radio specific functions are implemented by the radio resource manager in conjunction with separating layer-2 and layer-3 information.

12. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein a radio link is established by the radio resource manager through a control path.

13. The radio resource manager of claim 12 , wherein a separate Internet protocol (IP)-based link is established such that the control path is decoupled from the bearer path.

14. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein the data is sent in IP packets that are sent through an IP network.

15. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein at least some data sent in the IP packets has radio characteristics removed therefrom.

16. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein the radio control characteristics are used to set up a radio link between the access terminal and the base transceiver station.

17. The radio resource manager of claim 1 , wherein the access gateway provides a channel to the radio resource manager in which the control message may be sent.

18. A method, comprising: receiving a control message from a base transceiver station associated an access terminal; receiving a request message determine radio control characteristics; and sending a response message that includes the radio control characteristics such that a radio link is established and such that an access gateway, which is not collocated with a radio resource manager, receives data in a bearer path from the base transceiver station, wherein the radio resource manager is decoupled from the bearer path.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising: updating the radio resource manager with one or more new radio resource management functions to be used with a plurality of access technologies for a particular network.

20. A system that includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium for performing operations, comprising: receiving a control message from a base transceiver station associated an access terminal; receiving a request message determine radio control characteristics; and sending a response message that includes the radio control characteristics such that a radio link is established and such that an access gateway, which is not collocated with a radio resource manager, receives data in a bearer path from the base transceiver station, wherein the radio resource manager is decoupled from the bearer path.